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Stem Cell Research
Friday
July 13, 2001
They could help Christopher Reeve walk again or Michael J. Fox stop trembling. They're called embryonic stem cells and though it's too late for these seeds of life to help Ronald Reagan remember his presidency, it's not too late for his son Ron to feel the excitement of their potential to cure millions.
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He says, “This would be the biggest biomedical breakthrough since germ theory and antibiotics. Maybe even bigger.”
Stem cells taken from human embryos hold the promise of curing often-fatal illnesses that affect all of us -- heart disease, diabetes, multiple sclerosis.
Reagan joins a growing list of high profile celebrities who are lobbying for federal research dollars. They need all the help they can get because in harvesting these remarkable cells the embryo dies, and that has created a firestorm of protest among pro-life activists who usually have a Reagan on their side. According to the younger Reagan, the embryos in question are destined to be discarded anyway.
He says, “They can go into the dumpster or they can be used to save people's lives. Now if you're pro-life, don't make a mockery of that term by foreclosing that sort of research.”
So how does Ron think his father would have come down on this as a political issue? He says, “He was not pro-choice, but he also didn't like the idea of standing in the way of science. So I think he would recognize just the huge potential here.”
The question is whether or not President Bush will do the same and approve funding for the research.
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